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‘Head’s gone’ as AFC crash in cup

IT started when Steven Fletcher handed in a transfer request to leave Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer.

After watching a series of bids turned down by his then-Molineux paymasters, the frustrated Scottish forward asked to leave the club and revealed on Twitter: “Just to let the fans know where I am at right now.... #headsgone.”

Fletcher could never have known it at the time, but his hashtag declaration has since taken on a life of its own.

After discussing it at length on Talksport’s drivetime show, presenter Adrian Durham and colleague Darren Gough turned Fletcher’s Twitter outburst into a running feature of their show.

Now each weekday, to the tune of Where’s Your Head At by Basement Jaxx, the duo introduce their daily “Head’s Gone” candidates.

In other words, the sportsmen/women/figures/clubs who have lost the plot in the past 24 hours.

It’s light-hearted, entertaining stuff.

Well, at least I find it to be.

And on Monday, as I tuned in while cooking my tea, I was intrigued to hear none other than Barrow AFC feature on Head’s Gone.

Well, more accurately, it was Luton Town boss Paul Buckle, whose head was deemed to have fallen off following his reaction to Lathaniel Rowe-Turner’s red card in the closing stages of Saturday’s match at Holker Street.

Angry at his defender’s dismissal following an altercation with Barrow goalscorer Adam Boyes, Buckle claimed: “If he got sent off, their lad should have gone too.”

Durham and Goughy deemed it a ludicrous argument, and perhaps they were right, as Rowe-Turner’s appeal has since been thrown out by the FA.

But from where I stood, it appeared little more than a petty tangle, cunningly manufactured by the wily Boyes in a bid to run the clock down.

Perhaps the more obvious “lost the plot” candidate was the entire club of Luton Town – conquerors of Wolves and Norwich – for coming a cropper at struggling Barrow.

But if I was to award my own midweek “Head’s Gone”, it would go to the Barrow AFC team for their dismal FA Trophy quarter-final exit at lower-league Gainsborough Trinity on Tuesday.

The omens were there from the start when the Bluebirds arrived with only their light blue strip, which clashed with their hosts’ dark blue kit.

In the last round against Gateshead, Barrow were the “away team at home”.

This time, forced to wear Gainsborough’s yellow second strip, they were indeed the away side, but wore the home team’s kit. And it was downhill from there.

Having toppled high-flyers Newport and beaten non-league giants Luton, it was almost inevitable Barrow would lose to a Conference North club.

We can only hope a Barrow team free of cup distractions is better placed to avoid the drop.